This memoir by the second most powerful Communist Party leader during the early Gorbachev years provides an important alternative view of the USSR's transformation?a view that is gaining ground in Russian politics today. In a substantial new piece for this edition, Mr. Ligachev outlines the political agenda of today's communist coalition?the establishment of a new Soviet Union, with strong economic and political integration of its member-states.Yegor Ligachev, a seasoned Party boss from Siberia, made a solid career for himself in the capital during the Khrushchev era, but, following Khrushchev's ouster, chose to retreat to the provinces. In 1985, his political patrons brought him back to Moscow to help them build a dynamic new leadership team under Mikhail Gorbachev. The two reform-minded communists launched an effort to inject life and energy into the Party, economy, and society through a series of liberalizing measures. But when Ligachev saw the reforms moving into a revolutionary phase that could result in the Party's loss of control over the helm of state, he found himself increasingly siding with the opposition.In this gripping book, Ligachev describes the evolving confrontation between opposing forces at high-level Party meetings and sessions of the Politburo as well as in less formal conversations. Along the way, he gives revealing glimpses not only of Gorbachev but also of Yuri Andropov, Andrei Gromyko, Alexander Yakovlev, Eduard Shevardnadze, Boris Yeltsin, and other top leaders. Notorious events such as the 1989 massacre in Tbilisi and the Gdlyan/Ivanov affair?in which, Ligachev argues, he was unjustly implicated?are also highlighted.

This memoir by the second most powerful Communist Party leader during the early Gorbachev years provides an important alternative view of the USSR's transformation—a view that is gaining ground in Russian politics today. In a substantial new piece for this edition, Mr. Ligachev outlines the political agenda of today's communist coalition—the establishment of a new Soviet Union, with strong economic and political integration of its member-states.Yegor Ligachev, a seasoned Party boss from Siberia, made a solid career for himself in the capital during the Khrushchev era, but, following Khrushchev's ouster, chose to retreat to the provinces. In 1985, his political patrons brought him back to Moscow to help them build a dynamic new leadership team under Mikhail Gorbachev. The two reform-minded communists launched an effort to inject life and energy into the Party, economy, and society through a series of liberalizing measures. But when Ligachev saw the reforms moving into a revolutionary phase that could result in the Party's loss of control over the helm of state, he found himself increasingly siding with the opposition.In this gripping book, Ligachev describes the evolving confrontation between opposing forces at high-level Party meetings and sessions of the Politburo as well as in less formal conversations. Along the way, he gives revealing glimpses not only of Gorbachev but also of Yuri Andropov, Andrei Gromyko, Alexander Yakovlev, Eduard Shevardnadze, Boris Yeltsin, and other top leaders. Notorious events such as the 1989 massacre in Tbilisi and the Gdlyan/Ivanov affair—in which, Ligachev argues, he was unjustly implicated—are also highlighted.

Frank Thoms went to the Soviet Union not to judge but to learn. As a result, he gained the trust and confidence of the people he befriended—and discovered much about himself. Behind the Red Veil recounts Frank’s quest to understand the Russian people. He spent his initial twenty-five years as a teacher, during which time he pursued his understanding of Marxism, Russian history, and Soviet Communism. His first venture to the Soviet Union occurred in October 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev’s first year as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In his following six trips, Frank served twice as a US–Soviet exchange teacher of English in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and on his own taught English in schools in Moscow and Alma-Ata (Almaty), Kazakhstan. His final journey, which was to the new Russia in 1994, three years after Gorbachev’s resignation, took him to Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. Through it all, Frank sought the love and respect of the Russians he came into contact with. Behind the Red Veil is the story of how they opened their hearts to him—and, in doing so, opened his.

This probing biography, written by two veteran Moscow correspondents, illuminates the life of Mikhail Gorbachev in a way which penetrates both the character of the man, and that of the nation which is currently reeling under his reforms. "...Convey(s) a sense of excitement attending the most intriguing political drama of our time".--The New York Times Book Review. A Washington Post bestseller.

The East-West Forum is a New York-based research and policy analysis organization sponsored by the Samuel Bronfman Foundation. Its goal is to bring together experts and policy leaders from differing perspectives and generations to discuss changing patterns of East-West relations. It attempts to formulate long-term analyses and recommendations. In p

Frank Thoms went to Russia seeking to understand himself--and to empathize with Russians living in a deteriorating Communist society. In Behind the Red Veil, he takes readers inside the culture of "the enemy," inviting them to discover both Russia and its people for themselves.